US Law Firm Womble Carlyle Adopts ROSS’s AI Research System

The North Carolina-based firm, which has 550 lawyers and 15 offices across the US, announced this week that it had decided to make use of ROSS to help improve client service and increase efficiencies. Womble has also recently formed an alliance with UK national law firm Bond Dickinson.

ROSS’s main use at present is in very fast legal research in the field of US bankruptcy. The company was one of the first legal tech enterprises that Dentons’ NextLaw Labs chose to invest in.

Womble Carlyle is now one of six law firms that have publicly acknowledged using the AI company’s system. The other four, aside from Dentons, include: Latham & Watkins; von Brieson; Baker Hostetler; and Dickinson Wright. Although, it is understood that ROSS’s client base is larger than this public list.

Ellen Gregg, Vice Chair, Womble Carlyle

In an interview with Artificial Lawyer, Womble Carlyle Vice Chair, Ellen Gregg, said she was very excited about the new collaboration with ROSS Intelligence.

With regard to the areas that they would use ROSS for, Gregg said: ‘For the time being, ROSS will focus on bankruptcy research because that is the current scope of the product offering,’ but added, ‘we have already built the groundwork for a robust collaboration with the ROSS team and Womble Carlyle is eager to explore the many possible applications of ROSS’s AI technology, including expanding its use to other practices and [also] in knowledge management.’

Gregg explained that the ROSS system would for now primarily be used by the firm’s lawyers, rather than shared with Bond Dickinson. But, shared use of AI systems could develop in the future, she added.

‘Currently, our ROSS commitment will be deployed within Womble Carlyle. However, in the short lifespan of our alliance, Bond Dickinson has already become an invaluable partner in our innovation efforts and we expect the scope of that collaboration to increase over time, hopefully, including a joint effort to evaluate and explore AI opportunities.’

Gregg added that the law firm had not only looked at legal research AI systems. However, for now the firm had chosen to focus on legal research as this was ‘a good first step’. But, she said the firm remained ‘open to exploring any range of possibilities that improve results and lower costs for clients while simultaneously maximising our firm’s many strengths’.